The present invention generally relates to the field of adhesive tape applicators. In particular, the invention relates to an adhesive tape applicator capable of both right-handed and left-handed application.
When applying coatings (e.g., paint, varnish, etc.), adjacent surfaces often need to be coated individually. As such, when one surface is being coated but adjoining surfaces are not, it is desirable to protect or mask those adjoining surfaces in order to avoid inadvertently coating them. In some situations, the surface to be protected has an edge common to an edge of the surface to be coated. For example, the surface to be coated may be a wall attached along a corner edge to another wall, or a wall having a door or window molding mounted thereon. Without the use of some form of masking arrangement, these configurations make it difficult to coat the desired surface without also inadvertently coating the adjoining surface.
Many adhesive tape applicators are known for applying a strip of tape (e.g., masking tape) from a roll onto a surface to be masked. Typically, the roll is positioned on a hub of the tape applicator and a free end of tape from the roll is adhered to the surface to be protected. Movement of the tape applicator over the surface then applies the strip of tape to the surface to be protected in a straight line, with a side edge of the tape extending along the common edges of the adjoining surfaces. During such application, the tape applicator guides the strip of tape along and onto the surface to be protected.
Current tape applicators cannot be used while moving in either of two opposite directions along the surface to be protected without removing the roll from the hub of the tape applicator and repositioning the roll on the hub. In addition, current tape applicators do not allow a side edge of the tape applicator to align with a side edge of different sized rolls of tape. Current tape dispensers cannot dispense tapes of various widths.